I'm a self-evaluator, a second and third guesser, when it comes to my interactions with other people.  I walk away from a conversation thinking, "that wasn't the tone I wanted."  This has primarily happened in my conversations with adults.  Not any longer.  

A few weeks ago, H was having a particularly challenging day and I was also challenged with keeping my cool.  I picked her up and told her, "You are driving your mama nuts."  She looked at me and said, "Nutsss."  I realized this conversation was all wrong.  

With kids, you do get second chances to correct poor conversations.  We've turned it into a joke and now I ask her "What do you drive your mama?"  She loves to say, "Nuts!"  It's a crowd pleaser.  Hopefully she won't remember that I was serious the first time I said it.  

"Driving mama nuts is just a day's work for me."